Photo by Sara Dumrese
BY JENNIFER CROWLEY
Ever happen to be driving through Scottsville around 5:00 AM and see a man running in some serious gear with an equally serious look on his face? If so you probably witnessed 36-year old distance runner Evan Dumrese getting his morning training session in. Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail keeps Dumrese, an environmental engineer, from his daily and dark morning runs these days. Why? Because the 2018 Boston Marathon is only weeks away and Dumrese is not only running it, he’s starting with the elite runners.
“To me, one of the greatest things about distance running is being able to actually participate with the best in the world. This doesn’t happen in any other sport. You can’t play alongside the Buffalo Bills or the New York Yankees but with a major marathon like Boston, you get to experience just that. Albeit they’ll be far ahead of us amateur runners, but while the race is being run, we’re all running together for that few hours,” explained Dumrese.
To see Dumrese’s dedication to running, along with his lean ‘runner looking’ appearance, one might think he was born to run miles upon miles. Surprisingly, this is not the case: ice hockey was his first love. It wasn’t until 2004 that Dumrese, then living in New Jersey, took up running as a way to condition for his amateur hockey league.
Only a few years later, in 2010, Dumrese found himself running his first marathon. Fast forward two kids and seven years and he was on the course in Erie, finishing that 26.2 miles in 3:06 which was fast enough to qualify him for Boston. After a few days of thinking it over, Dumrese committed to running in the world-famous event.
“For me it’s about being able to run the same race as some of the elite runners who I’ve followed for some time now — Galen Rupp and Sage Canaday are both running this year and I get to run ‘alongside’ them,” offered Dumrese. He added that this year marks the 122nd Boston Marathon and that over the past months he and his wife Sarah, an elementary school teacher, have enjoyed learning the history of the race along with some truly amazing and/or shocking runner stories. Case in point: in 1980 Rosie Ruiz won the woman’s race thanks to her ingenious idea of riding the subway to the finish line. What gave her away? Lack of sweat.
In terms of his training regimen, Dumrese initially used an online program that made recommendations based on each stage of a runner’s development and for courses of different lengths. He relied on the ‘Hal Higdon’ approach over a number of years (along with a strict diet) and believes he owes his success as a runner largely to the program. “I saw steady improvement in my running which was very satisfying and made me want to keep going,” he added.
The affable Dumrese changes his morning runs up depending on what he needs to work on. While he enjoys running around the village for its scenery, he says his favorite area to run is south of South Road and north of Route 5. According to Dumrese, he can run for miles on that route and not get passed by a single car.
With the April 16th Boston race rapidly approaching, Dumrese feels as many butterflies as he does pangs. “Since it’s my first time running Boston, I have some fear of the unknown that I also find exciting at the same time. Like a lot of marathoners, I’ve obsessed over the course since I sent in my application. I think my single biggest worry are the hills in the town of Newton. The last one is the infamous “Heartbreak Hill.’ From what I’ve read, it’s not so much the steepness or size of the hill, but its location around mile 21. Typically the human body runs out of glycogen stores around mile 20 and that is what ‘hitting the wall’ is all about. I’m counting on the support from thousands of spectators to give me that extra push to run hard and fast,” said Dumrese whose goal is to finish the course in under three hours.
And just how does Dumrese intend to meet his goal? Training and more training. “With work, family, a house, and friends, most days I hit the roads between 4:00 – 5:00 AM. I try my best to limit the time I’m training to the hours that the kids are sleeping though I couldn’t do any of this without my wife Sarah who is very supportive of my hobby.”
Looking past April, it’s a given that there are several more marathons in Dumrese’s future. He says he’s intrigued with the idea of an international marathon in a city such as London, but it’s the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., that he is quite interested in and for a special reason. “My father-in-law has run over a dozen marathons. He was such a help to me when I started to get hooked on running and the Marine Corps race is one he’s always said he’d like to do. I’m hopeful that someday we’ll get to run it together.”
